The present invention is related to U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/683,676 entitled xe2x80x9cCollision Warning and Safety Countermeasure Systemxe2x80x9d filed simultaneously herewith and incorporated by reference herein.
The present invention relates generally to collision warning systems, and more particularly to a method and apparatus for performing passive countermeasures as to prevent an injury to an operator during a collision.
Collision warning and countermeasure systems are becoming more widely used. Collision warning systems provide a vehicle operator knowledge and awareness of objects or vehicles within a close proximity so as to prevent colliding with those objects. Countermeasure systems exist in various passive and active forms. Some countermeasure systems are used to aid in prevention of a collision others are used to aid in the prevention of injury to a vehicle operator.
Collision warning systems and countermeasure systems currently exist in various forms. Certain collision warning systems and countermeasure systems are able to sense a vehicle or object in the close proximity to a host vehicle and warn the host vehicle operator, such that the operator can take precautionary steps to prevent a collision or injury. Other collision warning systems and countermeasure systems activate passive or active countermeasures such as air bags, load limiting seat belts, or brake control whereby the system itself aids in preventing a collision or injury.
Currently collision warning systems and countermeasure systems are used independently and do not interact with each other in a cooperative fashion as to, in a combined fashion, further decrease the probability of a collision or injury. The current collision warning systems also do not utilize a majority of existing vehicle sensors such as tire pressure sensors and occupant classification sensors, in conjunction with the collision warning systems and countermeasure systems again to further decrease the probability of a collision or injury.
Separate from collision warning systems and countermeasure systems other systems exist for autonomously controlling a vehicle. These systems may include devices such as cameras, sensors, steering control, brake control, and accelerator control. Autonomous type systems have primarily been used for military applications and not for collision and injury prevention in automotive vehicles.
Current collision warning systems and countermeasure systems also perform passive countermeasures in response to accelerometer data. The accelerometer data is primarily received from accelerometers located near the outer surface of the vehicle. For example, an accelerometer located on a vehicle bumper or in a close proximity to that location is typically used to signal an airbag to deploy during a collision. Use of these externally located accelerometers to deploy passive countermeasures is limiting in the prevention of injury during a collision in that they are limited in information of vehicle status and operator status. In other words, the externally placed accelerometers do not supply information such as seat positioning, occupant positioning, or other related information that may be used to better prevent injury.
An ongoing concern for safety engineers is to provide a safer automotive vehicle with increased collision warning and safety countermeasure intelligence as to decrease the probability of a collision or an injury. Therefore, it would be desirable to provide an improved collision warning and safety countermeasure system for an automotive vehicle that incorporates existing techniques and others to create a more efficient collision and injury prevention system for an automotive vehicle.
The foregoing and other advantages are provided by a method of performing passive countermeasures for an automotive vehicle. A method of performing passive countermeasures for an automotive vehicle having a vehicle sensor complex generating a vehicle sensor complex signal is provided. The method of performing passive countermeasures includes performing an accelerometer initiated passive countermeasure method and performing a sensor fusion initiated passive countermeasure method. An object is detected with a sensor fusion and an object parameter signal is generated. The object parameter signal is compared with an object parameter threshold level. The sensor fusion initiated passive countermeasure method is terminated when the object parameter signal is greater than the object parameter threshold level.
One of several advantages of the present invention is that it provides a method for deploying passive countermeasures in a cooperative manner as to efficiently prevent injury to a vehicle occupant.
Another advantage of the present invention is that it provides increased vehicle intelligence as in assessing a potential collision situation and determining what actions to perform, when to perform the actions, and in what manner to perform the actions.
Additionally, the present invention provides vehicle and occupant related information in combination with accelerometer data to deploy passive countermeasures in a more comprehension manner.
Furthermore, the present invention provides a method for determining whether to deploy passive countermeasures at an earlier time in a potential collision event using pre-collision vehicle, occupant, and object related information. The ability to assess pre-collision information allows the present invention to provide an increased safety performance method for deploying passive countermeasures over traditional accelerometer based collision warning systems and countermeasure systems.
The present invention itself, together with attendant advantages, will be best understood by reference to the following detailed description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying figures.